


What is Good for the Garden May be Bad for the SeeD

by TwoCatsTailoring



Category: Final Fantasy VIII, Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Gen, Ignis has a fan club, Not Beta Read, Not my idea originally, Post-Game FFVIII, SeeD Instructor Ignis Scientia, SeeD Instructor Quistis Trepe, Trepies are strange
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-07
Updated: 2019-10-07
Packaged: 2020-11-27 04:51:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20942567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwoCatsTailoring/pseuds/TwoCatsTailoring
Summary: Ignis and Quistis commiserate over shared challenges that come with the job.





	What is Good for the Garden May be Bad for the SeeD

**Author's Note:**

> Special thanks to the following Tweeters for their enabling ways:  
@sousourocket for 'ignites'  
@NightysWolf for the mod for SeeD Iggy  
@ChilledFoodTin for the screenies  
and  
@i_s_e_b for putting it all on my feed.
> 
> SeeD Instructor Ignis is not my idea at all, it's all these other folk's fault. I'm just thirsty.

“Instructor Scientia.”

Ignis looked up from his book and smiled, causing a cadet at the table to his left to gasp audibly. “Ah, Instructor Trepe. What a pleasant surprise. I thought you were already gone for the day. Won’t you join me?”

“Thank you,” Quistis said with a smile of her own. No gasps were heard but that didn’t mean that they didn’t happen. “Not yet. I have another half-hour before our junior classmen are meeting at the docking bay.”

“Just enough time for breakfast,” Ignis confirmed as he shifted his ledger out of the way.

“Exactly. What about you? Don’t you have two SeeD exams today?” Quistis settled into her seat and set to work doctoring her eggs just so as she studiously ignored the cadet watching her every move and recording her additions of mayonnaise, finely chopped pickles, and paprika. 

Ignis seemed to realize that he had left his own food untouched as he pursued the logs and he pulled his plate towards him. All the butter should have melted into his muffin by now and he pretended to not notice that someone had already replaced it with a nearly identical one - the only difference being the bottom of this one wasn’t burned. “I do and one begins shortly. The other is not until tonight.”

“I will be eternally grateful that for my own exam, the nights were not an option,” Quistis said with an exhale. “As it is, I do not like going on them now. And I wouldn’t have passed if mine had been at night.”

Ignis looked thoughtful as he chewed and swallowed, more than one set of eyes watching what little of his throat was exposed as he did. “I doubt that I would have fared well in them either, at the time. But I do enjoy them now. There is an added layer of difficulty to them, particularly the urban ones.”

“But tonight’s is not an urban exam,” Quistis pointed out. “And I wouldn’t trade you for any amount of gil. Underwater, at night.” She shook her head, then tucked a stray strand of hair out of her face before taking a sip of her coffee. “Yuck. It’s cold. I’ll be right ba…. Oh!”

As if by Summon Magic, a cadet in blue and silver appeared at her elbow with a hushed, “Instructor Trepe,” and a bow, leaving behind a fresh, steaming cup of coffee, just how she liked it with a cream and two sugars. He was gone before she could even say thank you.

Ignis’s sigh was almost as imperceptible as Quistis’s and they shared a level look over the top of her cup before continuing their conversation as the cafeteria grew more crowded for this early in the day.

“I’m not sure how you stand it,” she finished.

“I’ll tell you my secret to aquatic exam survival if you will tell me how you manage mid-day deserts,” he offered as he actively did not realize that a young cadet was attempting to inch close enough at the table behind him to smell his hair.

Quistis considered, then nodded her agreement. “Lots of sunscreen and no sleeves. The kilts help, too.”

Ignis took in her advice and nodded sagely. “I’ve only ever worn a skirt once in an exam and it was far from a kilt.” He was thankful that Qusitis had as much practice schooling her expressions as he did because he was sure that little bit of information had eyes all around him wide. He simply did not want to know. “I’ll keep that in mind for the future.”

“And what is the magic bullet for underwater at night?” she asked with a grin.

Ignis took a drink of his coffee and said, “A layer of petroleum jelly under your wetsuit and prescription goggles.” 

Quistis raised her eyebrows and made a small sound of interest that made five heads around her turn in unison to listen to what had her attention. “Where did you get your goggles? I’ve never seen them as an option in the infirmary?”

“They are not an option there. I got mine mail order from Esthar.” Ignis began to pile his empty plate, cup, and saucer back on to his tray before checking his watch. A cadet just behind him and to the right made a move as if to stand but was stopped by a classmate with a stern shake of their head.

Quistis checked her watch and stacked her dishes on her tray as well. “When we’re both back, I’ll have to get the name of the shop from you.”

They stood in unison and moved to push their chairs in, both seemingly oblivious to the fact that their trays disappeared while their backs were turned and as Ignis said, “Absolutely. Send me a text this afternoon when you break for lunch. I should be back from the first exam by then.”

“Maybe I can get them ordered today before we get back,” Qusitis mused as they left the cafeteria together. “That will make next Thursday’s exam go much smoother. For me, at least.”

The pair shared a laugh over that. Once through the doors and in the relative silence of the hallway leading back into the heart of Balamb Garden, they both heaved sighs of relief.

“Do you ever just wish…,” Quistis began, her voice anything but the measured and pleasant tones that she affected everywhere else.

“...that they would all fall off the side of Garden into the sea never to be seen again? Yes,” Ignis queried with a smile. “Yes I do. Daily. Hourly, sometimes.”

“If Headmaster Kramer ever so much as mentions putting us on any promotional material ever again…!”

“Matron Edea will find only his neatly-severed hand holding a signed apology addressed to us both.” Ignis's smile was as placid and distant as any top SeeD could be expected to achieve. 

Quistis stopped walking for a second and gave Ignis a long, careful look before she burst out laughing. “Ignis, you have spent far too many nights thinking this through.”

“Quistis, I have to have something to do when the whispers of the Ignites,” he added quotations in the air with his hands and twisted his mouth around the name of his fan club members, “outside my door keep me awake at night.”

“Earplugs, my friend. Earplugs,” Quistis advised with a pat on his shoulder before continuing down the hall.


End file.
